Labor Day Poetry for Hard-Knock Millennials by Amanda Lovelace

we are the generation

you gave participant

trophies to.

 

we are the generation

you made wear helmets,

elbow pads, & kneepads.

 

we are the generation

you gave censored CDs

& PG movies to.

 

we are the generation

you spent years overprotecting

then threw to the wolves.

 

now we are the generation

running on nothing but coffee

& three hours of sleep.

 

we are the generation

making minimum-wage jobs

with college degrees.

 

we are the generation

making just enough

money to survive.

 

we are the generation

you didn’t want to see fail

then ensured that we did.

-millennials.

 

(From the book of poems by New Jersey-based poet Amanda Lovelace titled ‘the princess saves herself in this one’. The featured photo is a young woman textile worker by artist-educator-muralist Janet Essley.)